10,456 questions
396
votes
1
answer
338k
views
"Automatic" vs "Automatic (Delayed start)"
When installing Windows services there are two options for automatically starting a Windows service on Windows startup. One is Automatic, and the other is Automatic (Delayed start). What is the ...
- 47.1k
252
votes
12
answers
144k
views
How to implement WiX installer upgrade?
At work we use WiX for building installation packages. We want that installation of product X would result in uninstall of the previous version of that product on that machine.
I've read on several ...
- 30.9k
184
votes
4
answers
45k
views
Wix: single MSI instead of msi + cab
My Wix project creates install.msi and cab1.cab. How can I have it bundle everything into the msi? I will likely use 7-zip SFX to work around this but I have seen other apps with only a single msi.
- 4,181
146
votes
1
answer
44k
views
What is the WiX 'KeyPath' attribute?
What is the WiX 'KeyPath' attribute? In particular, how does it apply to the following:
<Component Id="ProgramMenuDir" Guid="*">
<RemoveFolder Id="ProgramMenuDir&...
- 8,373
113
votes
14
answers
373k
views
xml.LoadData - Data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1
I'm trying to parse some XML inside a WiX installer. The XML would be an object of all my errors returned from a web server. I'm getting the error in the question title with this code:
XmlDocument xml ...
- 2,745
110
votes
5
answers
610k
views
How can I find the product GUID of an installed MSI setup?
I need to find the product GUID for an installed MSI file in order to perform maintenance such as patching, uninstall (how-to uninstall) and also for auditing purposes.
- 42.6k
92
votes
5
answers
66k
views
What installation product to use? InstallShield, WiX, Wise, Advanced Installer, etc [closed]
I'm currently doing some investigation on moving off of the installation package we currently use (Wise Installer 9) and moving to something that will handle things like Windows Vista, Windows 7 ...
- 8,284
90
votes
3
answers
31k
views
Wix create non advertised shortcut for all users / per machine
In WIX, how do you create a non advertised shortcut in the allusers profile? So far I've only been able to accomplish this with advertised shortcuts. I prefer non-advertised shortcuts because you ...
- 5,059
81
votes
13
answers
32k
views
WiX 3.0 throws error 217, while being executed by continuous integration
This is the error that is thrown by our automated build suite on Windows 2008, while running ICEs (after migrating from WiX 2.0 to WiX 3.0):
LGHT0217: Error executing ICE action 'ICE01'. The most ...
- 23.7k
79
votes
5
answers
39k
views
How to build a minimal WiX installer UI without a license page?
I would like to use the WixUI_Minimal installer, but I don't want the license page. How can I do this?
- 26k
74
votes
8
answers
471k
views
Uninstalling an MSI file from the command line without using msiexec
msiexec is command prompt software that installs an MSI program. But I have found that you can install an MSI file from the command line by just typing in the name of the MSI file on the command line.
...
- 9,603
73
votes
2
answers
22k
views
One file per component or several files per component?
Should I wrap all the files I want to install in individual components?
What is the advantage of putting several files in one component?
- 14k
70
votes
3
answers
31k
views
In WiX files, what does Name="SourceDir" refer to?
WiX files always seem to include this line:
<Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
What is "SourceDir"? What is it used for? It's not a real directory name. Is it some kind of magical ...
- 17.1k
69
votes
4
answers
79k
views
How to install and start a Windows Service using WiX
I tried to use the code below in Wix.
But when installing, the installer was freezing for like 3 minutes on status: Starting services, then I got this message "Service Jobservice failed to start. ...
- 1,931
67
votes
4
answers
47k
views
What alternatives are there to ClickOnce? [closed]
I've used ClickOnce a lot over the years, but I have run up against a lot of its limitations. What alternatives are there for web deployment?
So far the only one I've been able to turn up is ...
- 1,363
65
votes
3
answers
22k
views
How do you create an event log source using WiX
I'm creating an installer for a website that uses a custom event log source. I would like our WiX based installer to create that event log source during installation.
Does anyone know the best way to ...
- 26.6k
61
votes
4
answers
26k
views
Directory NN is in the user profile, but is not listed in the RemoveFile table
When I am trying to create the installer i am getting the following error:
The directory ProgramMenuDir is in the user profile but is not listed in the RemoveFile table.
How do I resolve this issue?...
- 2,269
53
votes
5
answers
27k
views
Installers: WIX or Inno Setup? [closed]
I'm comparing these two tools. The impression I have is:
Inno Setup does not produce an MSI, but can do everything WIX can do
WIX does produce an MSI, but has a steep learning curve
Do you agree with ...
- 30.3k
53
votes
5
answers
28k
views
How to add a whole directory or project output to WiX package
We decided to switch from VS integrated setup to WiX.
However, what we currently do is use projects output files as the input for the setup project. This lets us easily add Application Files to a ...
- 28.7k
50
votes
2
answers
20k
views
Why does my WiX installer need an empty CreateFolder to conditionally update an Xml file?
TL;DR: Why do I need an empty <CreateFolder/> element in this conditional component in order to make it work?
I'm putting together a simple WiX based installer for an in-house application. This ...
- 44.4k
47
votes
5
answers
42k
views
Custom WiX Burn bootstrapper user interface?
I'm creating an installation package with WiX 3.6 primarily so I can take advantage of the Burn bootstrapping features. So far I have several MSI packages bundled together that will be installed with ...
- 1,101
45
votes
3
answers
39k
views
Wix: How to set permissions for folder and all sub folders
I know how to set the permissions for a folder:
<DirectoryRef Id="ProgramFilesFolder">
<Directory Id="PHPFolder" Name="PHP">
<Component Id="PHP_comp" DiskId="1" Guid="*">
...
- 483
45
votes
3
answers
24k
views
Advertised shortcuts vs. non-advertised shortcuts in windows setup project
I cannot understand what is exact consequences of using attribute Advertise in Shortcut attribute.
What is the diffirence?
- 622
43
votes
3
answers
15k
views
What is the state of WiX v4?
I really feel like I shouldn't have to ask a question on SO to get basic information like this, but I can't find a reliable source anywhere.
Is WiX v4 released? In Development? In Beta? Still being ...
- 781
42
votes
3
answers
32k
views
How to Select Features From Command Line
This might be a naive question. I have to manually edit a .WXS file to make it support select features from command line.
For example, there are 3 features in .WXS file.
<Feature Id="AllFeature" ...
- 76.4k